Containers adapted to be stacked

ABSTRACT

Containers adapted to be stacked, each having beaded top and bottom, characterized by the fact that the bottom of the upper container has a section providing towards the center of the container and immediately after the bead and the usual bottom cavity, an inclined portion directed towards the outside of the upper container and terminating short of the outer beaded end of the container, said inclined portion being extended by an inwardly directed portion forming a central recess. The top of the lower container is provided with a protruding portion adapted to nest within the central recess of the upper container with the beads of the two containers in abutting aligned relation.

PATENTEDFEB15 1912 INVENTORS Pierre A. .I. WEBSTER Andre H. A. LANGLOIS AGENT United States Patent Webster et al.

[ 1 Feb. 15, 1972 [54] CONTAINERS ADAPTED TO BE STACKED both of France [73] Assignee: said Webster, by said Langlois [22] Filed: Nov. 19, 1969 [21] Appl. No.: 878,010

[52] US. Cl. ..220/97 R [51] Int. Cl ..B65d 21/02 [58] Field of Search ..220/67, 97, 97 R, 97 C [56] References Cited UNYTED STATES PATENTS 2,077,027 4/1937 Torras .....220/97 2,753,088 7/1956 Prahl ..220/67 X 3,049,264 8/ 1962 Morawski ..220/67 X Henchert ..220/97 X Scholtz ..220/97 Primary ExaminerGeorge E. Lowrance Attorney-Pierre Lesperance [5 7] ABSTRACT Containers adapted to be stacked, each having beaded top and bottom, characterized by the fact that the bottom of the upper container has a section providing towards the center of the container and immediately after the bead and the usual bottom cavity, an inclined portion directed towards the outside of the upper container and tenninating short of the outer beaded end of the container, said inclined portion being extended by an inwardly directed portion forming a central recess. The top of the lower container is provided with a protruding portion adapted to nest within the central recess of the upper container with the beads of the two containers in abutting aligned relation.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures CONTAINERS ADAPTED TO BE STACKED The present invention relates to containers adapted to be stacked.

The containers of the present invention are each provided with a beaded top and a beaded bottom and are stacked one above the other by means of their top and bottom beads which are of equal and corresponding dimensions, all of the containers being centered one with respect to the other by the insertion of the top of a lower container into the bottom of an upper container.

To attain the object of the invention, the bottom of the container has a cross section which comprises, in the direction from the periphery towards the center of the container, immediately after the bead and the normal bottom cavity, an inclined portion directed towards the exterior of the container and terminating slightly short of the external edge of the bottom, said inclined portion being extended by an inwardly directed portion forming a chimney having straight or slightly conical sidewalls and constituting a central recess. Thus, when the containers are stacked one above the other, it is the central recess of the bottom which receives the protruding central portion of the top to center this top and this bottom one with respect to the other and obtain precise and stable stacking of the containers. The central recess of the bottom is adapted to the shape of the top for completely containing the latter and always obtain a uniform and stable bearing surface between the bead of each bottom and the bead of each top.

This central recess is therefore more or less deep with a flat or curved bottom or which may be recessed in accordance with a convex or frustoconical'profile, or any other shape, in order to receive the top of the container.

The top of the container has a profile which enables its fast and easy insertion into the bottom of the superposed container during stacking for perfectly centering the two containers. The top of the container has a profile which is complementary to the profile of the bottom; starting from the periphery towards the center of the container, the normal cavity immediately behind the bead is followed by an inclined portion directed towards the exterior of the container and reaching the exterior edge of the bead and thereafter, contrary to the bottom, this inclined portion is extended towards the exterior of the container by a chimney or protuberance having straight or slightly conical sidewalls and of a size enabling said protuberance to be inserted into the corresponding central recess of the bottom of an identical container with only a slight play.

The central chimney or protruding part of the top of the container has sufficient height to provide secure stacking of the containers. The central part of the top of this chimney or protruding portion may have any suitable shape in accordance with the intended use of the container. The central part of the top may be imperforate, flat or curved such as cans for preserving food, or this central part can be flat, curved, conical or pyramidal, etc., with an orifice provided with a simple valve or other more complex closure means, such as in pouring cans, or the central part can have a large diameter orifice in the manner of containers having a fluidtight closure. The central part canhave any other arrangement, the above examples being nonlimitative.

The container itself may have a body of round, oval, polygonal cross-sectional shape or a succession of flat and/or curved wall portions of small or large radius of curvature. Therefore, the body of the container may have any cross-sectional shape.

However, due to manufacturing difficulties of certain complex shape containers, the parts forming the protrusions and the central recesses in the top and bottom of the containers could be made either less deep or can be partially suppressed at the corners and at the small radius curves of the bottom and top contours, it being understood that the other protrusion and recess forming parts located adjacent the straight sides or the large radius curves of the tops and bottoms, will be sufficient for centering the nested tops and bottoms.

The invention will become more apparent by referring to the following description and to the annexed drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial cross section of two stacked containers showing the beaded bottom of an upper container and the beaded top of a lower container, the two containers being of round shape and of equal dimensions;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the bottom of a rectangular shaped container prior to beading;

FIG. 3 is a cross section along line III-Ill of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a cross section along line lVIV of FIG. 2.

The bottom of container A has a peripheral cavity 1 between the bead 2 and an inclined portion 3, the exterior part 4 of which terminates short of the base 5 of the bead 2, in order that each container, taken individually, may rest on base 5 of the bead 2 and not on part 4. The part 4 is-extended inwardly of the container to form a cylindrical or slightly conical chimney or central recess 6. The depth of the chimney and the shape of its bottom are made in accordance with the height and shape of the top to be inserted within said central recess.

The depth of chimney 6 may, in certain cases, be greater, equal or smaller than the depth of cavity 1.

The top of the lower container B, which corresponds, obviously, to the top of container A, comprises a peripheral cavity 7 between bead 8 and an inclined portion 9 in the same manner as for the bottom, but with the difference that end 10 of inclined portion 9 is extended in the direction of the exterior of the container to form a chimney or protruding part 11 of sufficient height to ensure proper nesting of the stacked containers. The top of the chimney 11 is fitted or shaped in accordance with the use of the container. Chimney II is slightly smaller than recess 6.

During stacking, the containers nest one within the other in a precise manner with the chimney ll of the top inserted within the chimney or central recess 6 of the bottom. The containers directly rest one upon the other at their bead end faces 5.

Referring now to FIGS. 2m 4, the bottom 12 of the central recess is flat and generally rectangular. On the rectilinear portions, the bottom of the container has a cross section substantially the same as that described previously in connection with FIG. 1 and shown in FIG. 3. However, in the corners, which have too small a radius of curvature, the inclined portion and, therefore, the chimney are absent (see FIG. 4) in order to simplify manufacturing of these bottoms, inasmuch as during stacking, the containers are sufficiently centered along their rectilinear portions.

The top and the bottom of the container are made of metal or any other material which can be headed. The body of the container between the top and the bottom can be made of metal, wood, cardboard, plastic or other sufficiently rigid material.

The invention is more particularly applicable to metal containers, such as cans or flasks being capable of manufacture on conventional machines and with well-known standard material. Thus, because the body of the container is of standard type and without restricted or conical portions, it can be made at a high production rate with the use of conventional manufacturing methods. Thus, the invention affords a great advantage over other types of containers adapted to be stacked and which require complicated shapes and manufacturing steps.

Because the top and bottom beads have equal dimensions, they effectively fulfil their reinforcing and protecting action for the body of the container, more particularly for printed bodies. This facilitates the wrapping, the filling and the storing of these containers.

In practice, the nesting of the containers during stacking is very simple. It is effected without adjustment and without precision. It suffices to place one container on \top of the other; as soon as the beads are in correct contact, nesting is immediately obtained. i

What we claim is:

1. A container adapted to be stacked on a similar container, comprising sidewalls, a bottom wall and a top wall joined to said sidewalls by bottom and top beads respectively, the bottom wall of said container having a cross section comprising, from the periphery towards the center of the container and immediately after said bottom bead and the usual bottom cavity, an inclined first straight portion extending towards the exterior of the container, a curved portion, a second straight portion directed inwardly of the container substantially parallel to said side walls, said second straight portion making an acute angle with said inclined first straight portion and joined thereto solely by said curved portion, said curved portion lying entirely located above the plane containing the exterior edge of the bottom bead, and a third portion transverse to said sidewalls, said second and third portions defining a central recess in said bottom wall opening exteriorly of said container, the top wall of the contain er having a cross section, which is generally complementary to that of the bottom wall and comprising, starting from the periphery towards the center of the container, the usual cavity behind the top bead partially formed by an inclined fourth straight portion directed towards the exterior of the container and terminating substantially at the level of the exterior edge of the top bead, a fifth straight portion extending exteriorly of the container and substantially parallel to said sidewalls to form a protuberance insertable within the central recess of the bottom wall of an identical stacked upper container with a slight play and with the bottom bead of the upper container resting directly on the top bead of the lower container, and with said fourth straight portion of said lower container terminating atits upper end below the lower end of said second straight portion of the upper container, so that said curved portion of the bottom wall of the upper container is always spaced from said fourth straight portion of the top wall of the lower container, even when said second straight portion of the upper container contacts said fifth portion of the lower container, whereby the upper container is supported by the lower container solely through contact between their respective bottom and top beads.

2. A container adapted to be stacked on a similar container, comprising sidewalls, a bottom wall and a top wall joined to said sidewalls by bottom and top beads respectively, the bottom wall of said container having a cross section comprising, from the periphery towards the center of the container and immediately after said bottom bead and the usual bottom cavity, an inclined first straight portion extending towards the exterior of the container, and terminating just short of the exterior edge of the bottom bead, a curved portion, a second straight portion directed inwardly of the container substantially parallel to said sidewalls, said second straight portion making an acute angle with said inclined first straight portion and joined thereto solely by said curved portion, said curved portion lying entirely located above the plane containing the exterior edge of the bottom bead, and a third portion transverse to said sidewalls, said second and third portions defining a central recess in said bottom wall opening exteriorly of said container, the top wall of the container having a cross section, which is generally complementary to that of the bottom wall and comprising, starting from the periphery towards the center of the container, the usual cavity behind the top bead partially formed by an inclined fourth straight portion directed towards the exterior of the container and terminating substantially at the level of the exterior edge of the top bead, a fifth straight portion extending exteriorly of the container and substantially parallel to said sidewalls to form a protuberance insertable within the central recess of the bottom wall of an identical stacked upper container with a slight play and with the bottom bead of the upper container resting directly on the top bead of the lower container, and with said fourth straight portion of said lower container terminating at its upper end below the lower end of said second straight portion of the upper container, so that said curved portion of the bottom wall of the upper container is always spaced from said fourth straight portion of the top wall of the lower container, even when said second straight portion of the upper container contacts said fifth portion of the lower container, whereby the upper container is supported by the lower container solely through contact between their respective bottom and top beads, and wherein said sidewalls definea bod of s uare or rectangular cross section with straight sidewal s para lel two by two joined at corners, the bottom wall in the area of said corners having a cross section comprising, from the periphery towards the center of the container and immediately after the bead, an inclined straight portion extending towards the interior of the container and joining directly with said third straight portion. 

1. A container adapted to be stacked on a similar container, comprising sidewalls, a bottom wall and a top wall joined to said sidewalls by bottom and top beads respectively, the bottom wall of said container having a cross section comprising, from the periphery towards the center of the container and immediately after said bottom bead and the usual bottom cavity, an inclined first straight portion extending towards the exterior of the container, a curved portion, a second straight portion directed inwardly of the container substantially parallel to said side walls, said second straight portion making an acute angle with said inclined first straight portion and joined thereto solely by said curved portion, said curved portion lying entirely located above the plane containing the exterior edge of the bottom bead, and a third portion transverse to said sidewalls, said second and third portions defining a central recess in said bottom wall opening exteriorly of said container, the top wall of the container having a cross section, which is generally complementary to that of the bottom wall and comprising, starting from the periphery towards the center of the container, the usual cavity behind the top bead partially formed by an inclined fourth straight portion directed towards the exterior of the container and terminating substantially at the level of the exterior edge of the top bead, a fifth straight portion extending exteriorly of the container and substantially parallel to said sidewalls to form a protuberance insertable within the central recess of the bottom wall of an identical stacked upper container with a slight play and with the bottom bead of the upper container resting directly on the top bead of the lower container, and with said fourth straight portion of said lower container terminating at its upper end below the lower end of said second straight portion of the upper container, so that said curved portion of the bottom wall of the upper container is always spaced from said fourth straight portion of the top wall of the lower container, even when said second straight portion of the upper container contacts said fifth portion of the lower container, whereby the upper container is supported by the lower container solely through contact between their respective bottom and top beads.
 2. A container adapted to be stacked on a similar container, comprising sidewalls, a bottom wall and a top wall joined to said sidewalls by bottom and top beads respectively, the bottom wall of said container having a cross section comprising, from the periphery towards the center of the container and immEdiately after said bottom bead and the usual bottom cavity, an inclined first straight portion extending towards the exterior of the container, and terminating just short of the exterior edge of the bottom bead, a curved portion, a second straight portion directed inwardly of the container substantially parallel to said sidewalls, said second straight portion making an acute angle with said inclined first straight portion and joined thereto solely by said curved portion, said curved portion lying entirely located above the plane containing the exterior edge of the bottom bead, and a third portion transverse to said sidewalls, said second and third portions defining a central recess in said bottom wall opening exteriorly of said container, the top wall of the container having a cross section, which is generally complementary to that of the bottom wall and comprising, starting from the periphery towards the center of the container, the usual cavity behind the top bead partially formed by an inclined fourth straight portion directed towards the exterior of the container and terminating substantially at the level of the exterior edge of the top bead, a fifth straight portion extending exteriorly of the container and substantially parallel to said sidewalls to form a protuberance insertable within the central recess of the bottom wall of an identical stacked upper container with a slight play and with the bottom bead of the upper container resting directly on the top bead of the lower container, and with said fourth straight portion of said lower container terminating at its upper end below the lower end of said second straight portion of the upper container, so that said curved portion of the bottom wall of the upper container is always spaced from said fourth straight portion of the top wall of the lower container, even when said second straight portion of the upper container contacts said fifth portion of the lower container, whereby the upper container is supported by the lower container solely through contact between their respective bottom and top beads, and wherein said sidewalls define a body of square or rectangular cross section with straight sidewalls parallel two by two joined at corners, the bottom wall in the area of said corners having a cross section comprising, from the periphery towards the center of the container and immediately after the bead, an inclined straight portion extending towards the interior of the container and joining directly with said third straight portion. 